


dangerous to dream

by teasockschocolate



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Annabeth is an angsty girl, Hera is a BITCH, Light Angst, Post-The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus), but it's a good idea, in this fic she'd not, it's a happy ending pretty much bc we know what happens, put annabeth in therapy 2k19, rachel and annabeth being pals is the reason i exist, there's just a lot of unresolved issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 11:00:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19462594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teasockschocolate/pseuds/teasockschocolate
Summary: “Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn’t even remember who he is.”There’d been a small part of Annabeth that had seen this coming, but she’d been forcing it to the back of her mind. Now, there was no denying it. “An exchange of leaders,” Hera had told Jason. The gods had made them pawns yet again to fight their battles and fulfill their prophecy. It should make her feel better, knowing where Percy is at least, but it only made her feel sicker to her stomach. She’d heard the stories of the Romans, seen firsthand Jason’s guarded poise and tattooed arm. Romans were cold and cruel and calculating, so unlike Percy. Funny, sweet, selfless Percy.Gods, what would they do to him?





	dangerous to dream

“Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn’t even remember who he is.” 

There’d been a small part of Annabeth that had seen this coming, but she’d been forcing it to the back of her mind. Now, there was no denying it. “An exchange of leaders,” Hera had told Jason. The gods had made them pawns yet again to fight their battles and fulfill their prophecy. It should make her feel better, knowing where Percy is at least, but it only made her feel sicker to her stomach. She’d heard the stories of the Romans, seen firsthand Jason’s guarded poise and tattooed arm. Romans were cold and cruel and calculating, so unlike Percy. Funny, sweet, selfless Percy. 

Gods, what would they do to him?

Worried looks were cast towards her, which Annabeth decided to ignore. She had to be strong. Breaking down wouldn’t help anybody. She could do this. 

The meeting went on –– finalizing the plan to rebuild the Argo II and set off for Camp Jupiter to get Roman demigod help –– and Annabeth found it harder to breathe with each passing second. Jason’s words kept playing over and over in her head. The second Chiron dismissed them, she pushed her chair back, mumbling an “excuse me” and all but ran out of the room. Annabeth vaguely registered Chiron saying her name and Rachel tentatively touching her sleeve, but she kept going. When she felt she’d put enough distance between herself and the Big House, she broke into a sprint. She ran past the cabins, the climbing wall, the mess hall, until she reached the shore. She peeled off her socks and sneakers, kept going until the waves reached her toes, and finally screamed herself hoarse. With a shuddering breath she closed her eyes, trying to calm down by focusing on the smell of the ocean. As the cold water lapped at her ankles she was yanked back in time to when she was fourteen in this very spot and Percy had made the water tug on her ankle so suddenly she’d lost her balance. She’d thrown a fistful of sand at him in retaliation and even now she could hear his laugh.

It wasn’t a happy memory, it had just been him being annoying and had never been something she’d ever dwelled on again. Now, it sent a pang of loss through her entire body and a silent sob wracked her body. The tears came, ironically which hadn’t during the time he’d been completely MIA, streaming hot and fast down her cheeks. Another sob made her nearly double over and she sank down to her knees. 

“He probably doesn’t even remember who he is.” 

Annabeth had thought it was unbearable to live in a world without Percy. She was probably being selfish, but a world in which Percy didn’t know her, didn’t love her (though they’d never said it like that) was absolutely unthinkable. For weeks she’d been running on the hope of finding him, unscathed, and bringing him back home where she’d never let him out of her sight again. What did she have to think of now? If (when, she told herself firmly) they found him would he think he’d a Roman? She pictured his eyes, which had looked at her with love and understanding even when they were twelve, and imagined them glancing right over her, aloof and meticulous. Horribly, she wondered if she’d rather him be himself but dead than alive and trained to hate her.

Percy. Her chest ached. Percy had always supported her when she was being irrational, always listened to her when she knew he was bored, always could make her laugh. He was the one thing in her life she felt like she hadn’t fucked up. The only thing she could always count on no matter what. Everybody leaves, a taunting voice in the back of her head said. Luke, Thalia, her parents. A new wave of self pity washed over her. 

Soft footsteps came behind her and someone settled in the sand to her right. In her peripherals, she saw a mane of red hair and opened her mouth to ask Rachel to leave her alone.

“I brought you this.” Rachel held out a hoodie. “I thought you’d be cold out here.”

“How’d you find me?”

Rachel tapped her temple. “I’m the Oracle, remember? Third Eye and all.” When her joke fell flat, she shrugged and her tone softened. “Chiron said you came here a lot when he was gone the summer of the Labyrinth. I figured this is where you feel close to him.”

“I sound like a stupid damsel. Crying over some boy.”

“He’s your best friend.” Rachel shifted a little closer. “You’re going to find him, Annabeth.”

“We don’t know that.”

Rachel pretended to be shocked. “You’re gonna dismiss an Oracle prediction?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth lifted a little. 

“What’re you thinking about?”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

“Well, obviously what just happened but, I mean, do you want to talk about it?”

She pursed her lips and watched the waves roll in for several seconds. She kept her eyes on the water, trying to ignore her wobbling chin. “I’m so scared,” She whispered, her voice breaking. 

“Oh, Annabeth,” Rachel wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She tensed at first, but let Rachel smooth her matted curls a little. 

“Romans, they’re so…different from him. The way they do things. They could break him.” 

“He’s stronger than that.”

“But if his memory was wiped than who is he now? What if he becomes like them?” 

Someone else may have told her it’d all be fine in a sweet and comforting way, but it was Rachel that she was here with, so instead of comforting words, Rachel scoffed and said “Give him some credit, Annabeth.”

“What?”

“It’s Percy. The guy’s, like, whole thing is that he’s a moral compass. He’s still him whether he remembers anything or not. There’s basic instincts in a person. He’s not going to let some stupid Italians walk all over him.” 

“But does the human psyche work like that? How much of our selves are based on how we were raised? It’s nature versus nurture.”

“I think there’s basic elements that make up a person. That can’t be just taken away from him.”

“If he knows nothing about himself, he’s going to be impressionable and he’s going to be put in an environment of killers.”

“Aren’t you all killers in a way?”

“The Romans are warriors.” She was starting to get irritated, even though it wasn’t Rachel’s fault. 

“And you’re not?”

“They could turn him against us!” She snapped. 

A heavy silence hung in the air, Annabeth’s outburst taking them both by surprise.

They could be very well igniting a battle between the Greeks and Romans when they sailed into Camp Jupiter. What if she had to face him in battle? She imagined Percy, turning Riptide on her without a second thought. She’d be just some Greek girl, a threat. Not his best friend for five years or his girlfriend. She wouldn’t be able to kill him, she knew that much. She’d fend him off for as long as she could but she would never be able to hurt him. He, on the other hand, could kill her without batting an eye. The thought made her blood run cold. 

“And you think he’ll turn against you? Specifically.”

Annabeth was silent.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Rachel turned towards to water. “But I don’t think there’s a universe where Percy would actually be able to hate you.”

Annabeth made a face. “Turning all Aphrodite on me, Dare?”

Rachel laughed. “C’mon, everyone knows it’s true.” 

“Anything’s possible.”

“Didn’t he sneak across the country to find you when he was, like, thirteen?”

“That’s different, Rachel. He was himself. But who knows what that bit––Hera–– turned him into.”

Rachel sighed. “There’s no way of knowing yet. But you’re going to build that ship and find him and bring him home, right?” 

Annabeth nodded.

“And then,” Rachel continued. “We should take turns hitting him for going missing.”

Annabeth snorted. “As if I haven’t already been planning to.”

“Right, forgot who I was talking to.” Rachel laughed. “You okay?”

“I will be. Thanks, mortal girl.”

“Anytime.”


End file.
